C.J. Stroud needed a big game to prove he should be Ohio State’s starting quarterback. He delivered against Rutgers.
After taking a week off against Akron to rest his injured shoulder that had plagued him in the Buckeyes’ first three games of the season, Stroud was excellent in Ohio State’s 52-13 win at Rutgers, completing 17 of 23 passing attempts for 330 yards and five touchdowns while also running for 13 yards on two carries.
While Stroud had completed 62.4 percent of his passes for 983 yards and eight touchdowns in Ohio State’s first three games of the year – a pair of wins over Minnesota and Tulsa and a loss to Oregon – he also struggled with overthrowing open receivers, especially early in games, and threw an interception in all three of them.
Stroud was sharper against Rutgers on Saturday. He completed 12 of his first 14 passes of the game, with both of his first two incompletions coming from drops by Jaxon Smith-Njigba on catchable balls. His only glaring mistake of the day came late in the second quarter, when he got away with a near-interception that was dropped by Scarlet Knights linebacker Olakunle Fatukasi, but he made a spectacular play just one snap later when he avoided a sack while keeping his eyes downfield and connected with Chris Olave for a third-down completion that Olave would turn into a 56-yard touchdown.
Wow. All of this.
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) October 2, 2021
No. 11 @OhioStateFB leads 45-6 in the 2Q. pic.twitter.com/weJp3Doj7W
Stroud did all of that against a Rutgers defense that had held opponents to just 150 passing yards and one passing touchdown in its first four games of the year.
Ryan Day, who stood behind Stroud as Ohio State’s starting quarterback throughout the first month of the season even as some Buckeye fans called for Kyle McCord or Jack Miller to take his place in the lineup, thought his redshirt freshman signal-caller showed what he was capable of in Piscataway.
“I think it was the most comfortable he’s looked,” Day said after the game. “He didn’t get rattled. He had a couple plays that maybe didn’t go his way, but he came right back and made plays. I think it really goes to the preparation he had this week.”
Stroud said his shoulder felt “100 times better” on Saturday than it was in his last start against Tulsa, which enabled him to sling the ball with more confidence.
“The whole week, I had a good week of practice and I definitely felt way better coming into this game with my shoulder,” Stroud said. “That Tulsa game, I wasn’t feeling right at all, but this week, I can actually step into my throws. I actually really like putting something in on my throws without feeling like my shoulder’s gonna fall off, so it’s definitely a blessing to actually be healthy.”
Watching from the sidelines against Akron while McCord and Miller played in his place also gave Stroud a new perspective that he believes made him a better quarterback mentally.
“It helped me to take a week off and really step back and realize what position I’m in,” Stroud said. “This is a big-time university, a big-time fan base, a big-time everything and I’m blessed to even be in this predicament. So that week off really helped me step back and notice what I’m into, and I just want to glorify God because without him, I would be nothing.”
For Ohio State to achieve its goals and for Stroud to continue to have the fans on his side as the Buckeyes’ starting quarterback, he’ll need to continue playing for the rest of the season like he did on Saturday. Stroud said he realizes “this is just the beginning,” and Day doesn’t want his quarterback to have any complacency.
“He’s gotta be consistent,” Day said. “Still a lot of things we’re gonna watch on film and we gotta get corrected and gotta get fixed. We gotta come back and do it again next week. Because now, there’s a body of work on film. So now guys are gonna look at him and try to attack him different ways, and he’s gonna have to have answers. And that’s playing in the Big Ten. But you could see what he’s capable of.”
At least for this week, though, Stroud’s performance against Rutgers should quell any questions about whether Ohio State is playing the right quarterback. McCord completed just one of three passing attempts for three yards while Miller missed on his only passing attempt – albeit with both playing with backup receivers and behind backup offensive linemen – after replacing Stroud in the second half, and Stroud played the way he was supposed to play Saturday.
Stroud said he was never concerned about the criticism he received after the first three games, though, because of his faith and he because he knew his teammates believed in him.
“Definitely blessed to be able to have the opportunity to go out there and show what I can really do. But the real people know what I can do. And that’s all that really matters to me,” Stroud said. “I can really care less what the world has to say. I’m God’s son. Whenever I look in the mirror, I see God’s son.
“So that’s how I look at myself and I feel like all my teammates look to me and they have the most trust in me. Without them, I wouldn’t be anything. We have a great O-line, they played their butts off today. My receivers, you can’t really talk about them because they’re the best. Our tight ends are great, our running backs are great. So having this opportunity where God is just placing all these great people around me and me trying to be the best I can be, it just helps out. So this is all from God.”
Olave said after the game that what the world saw from Stroud on Saturday is what the Buckeyes had seen from Stroud throughout the preseason.
“That’s the C.J. we saw in fall camp, summer,” Olave said. “He had some rest on his shoulder, so he felt like he was 100%. He was slinging it today.”
